


Look, The Prince Needs Some Help

by Bunnie_is_cute



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fantasy AU, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minecraft, Other, Requited Crush, Requited Love, i don't know how to tag lol, mcyt - Freeform, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29657898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunnie_is_cute/pseuds/Bunnie_is_cute
Summary: The Prince and his knights don't exactly have it easy, to be honest. But hey, they're having fun.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Ranboo & Toby Smtih | Tubbo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

The Masked Prince was all the talk across the kingdom. No one knows exactly why the eldest prince kept his face hidden. He was the eldest prince, everyone assumed that he was going to be king one day, but not one person outside of the castle's walls had ever seen his face, that George knew of. There was a princess and her face was known, so frankly, George had no idea why the prince wore that mask all of the time. 

George had personally never seen the prince up close and he knew nothing about the royal family. But he never had any reason to need to know anything about them, the royals always kept their distance from the magic folks, rarely sending knights into the magic sectors of the kingdom to do routine checks. The magic folk sustain themselves just fine. 

George was only a healer. He was quite successful with what he did too, since there were only a handful of healers in the magic sector. He rarely had a moment to himself since he saw close to fifty patients every day with magically inflicted diseases or curses that he had to fix, and he also helped train new healers in the sector. 

His friend, Bad, was an amazing help though. The dark tiefling made his job much easier by assisting him in gathering materials and to even remove low-level curses. George could have sworn that Bad was teaching himself healing magic through observation, which elated him. He needed the help. 

George and Bad were tidying up after their last patient left the office after a long, almost gruesome day when they heard someone knocking on the door. 

“I’ll get it,” Bad said cheerfully, setting down his pile of clean towels onto the shelf. George smiled gratefully and continued what he was doing. 

“Hello?” George heard Bad say, then a shocked gasp, “Are you okay?!” 

George stood up abruptly and ran to the door, quickly sliding on his magicked goggles. Bad was leaning over someone who was passed out onto the steps, bleeding from multiple injuries. The stranger had dark, fluffy hair and was wearing a bloodstained blue cloak. Little blue crystals shone against his tan skin, they looked like they were almost imbedded in him.  
At first glance, George knew that something was off, something about this person made his mouth feel bitter. Bad picked up the stranger gingerly and placed him on the bed to presumably check him, and George moved outside the door to look at the blood. 

When he placed his palm to the puddle of blood, he noticed that none transferred over onto his skin, and quickly realized what was up.

Illusion magic. 

“George!” Bad called from inside. 

“Coming,” George said cooly and closed the door behind him, locking it as a precaution. The stranger was laying on one of the cots, and Bad had pressed a towel on one of the bigger wounds, and somehow hadn’t noticed that the blood wasn’t staining anything. 

“You don’t need to do that, Bad,” George said, moving up to them. 

“What- why?!” 

“This is obviously fake,” George placed his hand on the chest of the stranger and uttered a cancelation spell. As soon as he did that, all of the blood seemingly evaporated from the stranger’s body, and as did the injuries. After a silent moment the stranger opened one of his eyes, a startling blue color. George looked over at the tiefling, and Bad’s face molded into anger. 

“Hey!” Bad was seething, he grabbed the back of the stranger’s now clean blue cloak and dragged him off the bed. 

“Ow- sorry, sorry ow-” The stranger stuttered. Due to Bad’s lineage, he was startlingly strong. George figured that the stranger hadn’t accounted for an angry healer, and looked thoroughly shocked. Being faced down by a menacing dark tiefling could do that to someone. 

“What were you doing? Trying to prank us?” George crossed his arms, “Because that's not something that you should do to a healer,” 

“I wasn’t trying to prank you,” He chuckled nervously, putting his hands up by his head in an ‘I surrender’ motion. “Could you put me down please?” 

Bad growled at him, and set him down. The stranger did a show of patting down his cloak and then exclaimed, “My name is Skeppy and I’m here to scout you guys,” 

George and Bad made eye contact, and looked back at ‘Skeppy’, and then simultaneously laughed. Skeppy frowned, obviously shocked by the sudden outburst. 

“What are you here to “scout us” for, Skeppy?” George asked, sure he was joking. 

“I-well, I’m a knight,” Skeppy shuffled his feet, looking uncomfortable for a moment, “One of the Masked Prince's chosen, actually! And we really need some healers,” 

“Seriously?” Bad’s tail flitted behind his legs, “You’re not pulling another prank, right?” 

“Of course not!” Skeppy looked offended this time. 

George sighed, “Bad can you deal with him? I have to finish cleaning up.” 

“Sure thing,” 

George busied himself with the many chores he had to do in the facility, all while Bad and Skeppy talked. From what George could overhear, it was going well. Bad sometimes would giggle or burst into laughter at something that Skeppy said, and he started to assume that they weren’t only talking about what Skeppy had asked them about. Later, after Skeppy left Bad explained to him what the knight had wanted. 

“The princes’ knights don’t have any healers, and they get into rough instances a lot, and he asked us if he could scope us out,” Bad said, “He wants to come back tomorrow to screen us, and then see if we qualify, I guess,” 

“Maybe we can trick him into working with us,” George murmured. 

“That might work,” Bad shrugged. 

“It’s working,” George grinned to himself incredulously, watching as Skeppy stood by Bad, holding a roll of bandages and wincing. Bad was stitching up a long gash down the leg of a little boy who had tripped over a stone while playing, and Skeppy was watching over his shoulder. He didn’t seem to like the blood but was doing his best to help.  
For the rest of the day, Skeppy followed Bad around, probably because when he tried to talk to George he ushered him away. After they closed up for the night, George and Bad stood together by the door with the dark-haired knight. 

“What do you mean ‘we passed’?” George asked, crossing his arms. 

Skeppy grinned, “You get to meet the prince! And tag along on our adventures,” 

“Adventures” Bad queried. 

“Yes- the prince and his knights are the ones deployed to take care of the issues no one else wants to do. They’re the more dangerous ones most of the time,” Skeppy said, “We get into a lot of trouble,”

“What kind? Bad sounded genuinely concerned. He’s too nice, George thought. 

Skeppy laughed nervously, “The painful kind,” The knight rolled up the sleeve on his left arm, and showed the two healers the slew of scars among the little embedded crystals.

“Those look magically inflicted,” George said, “Are you cursed?” 

Skeppy shrugged casually, “Yeah, every time I get injured my skin turns to diamond, it’s ridiculously painful and inconvenient, but it’s useful in fights. But when the diamond cracks on the rare occasion, this happens,” 

Bad frowned, and George continued with the conversation, “What would happen if we said no to your offer?” 

“Well, honestly that's the safer option, but you guys are our last hope,” Skeppy showed a little bit of vulnerability for the first time since he met him, and George felt a little guilty. 

“I’ll think about it,” George turned away from the knight, “Go home and get some sleep,” 

“Great! I’ll be back tomorrow!” And Skeppy skipped out the door. 

George and Bad talked for a while, enough time for George's mom to bring them dinner and for them to finish it. They decided to give Skeppy’s offer a try, and the next day when the knight visited them they took the walk to the castle.

Neither of the healers had ever been to the castle before, or even close, but they’d seen it in the distance. It was beautifully built and gleamed in the morning sunlight. Skeppy must have been a high ranking knight, because he simply waltzed through the front gates with Bad and George in tow and none of the guards even batted an eye. Bad gaped at the gardens with their beautifully tended hedges and plants, and George stared up at the stained glass windows of the castle, depicting battles and magical feuds. 

Inside the ceilings were so high that it seemed that clouds could form above. Magical lights bounced around, and George could swear that he saw little creatures flitting around in the rafters. Skeppy led them down a corridor to the left of the hall, and through the mazes of the castle. Everything was decorated thoughtfully, with paintings and fresh flowers, and tall windows. The knight seemed to know exactly where he was going, taking sharp turns and cheerfully saying good morning to people they passed in the hallways. 

They stopped at a seemingly dead-end hallway, the only thing it led to was a floor to ceiling painting. The painting was of a landscape, something George recognized as just outside the castle in the gardens. Skeppy without hesitation reached forwards and pressed in one of the painted stained glass windows of the castle, and much to George and Bad’s amazement the painting opened inwards like a door, revealing a hidden room. 

George stepped through and looked around in awe. The room was comfortable, not something you’d expect to find in a castle. Nothing in here screamed ‘royalty’, it looked like someone’s living room. Couches and beat-up chairs were gathered in front of a cold fireplace, and a bookshelf filled to the brim with books was shoved up against the wall across the room. Different carpets overlapped across the floor, and everything felt welcoming and warm. It was a homey place, but completely empty. 

“Come on, I’ll show you around,” Skeppy said, tipping his head. Bad walked through, and with a shrug, as did George. 

↢↣  
Sapnap was injured, but stubbornly refused Dreams' help back through the castle. He wouldn’t have been injured in the first place if he wasn’t so stubborn, either, he wouldn’t back down when they were facing off against that stone giant even if they were outmatched. They finally made it to the disguised door and the tension left them, they were home. 

Dream opened the door and helped Sapnap into the infirmary, the best they would do would be bandaging him since they didn’t have a healer yet. 

“Dream- are you back?” Someone yelled from the end of the hallway, Skeppy he thinks. 

“Yeah- I’m in the infirmary. Sapnap hurt his leg,” Dream called back. A couple of moments later Skeppy, and two people he didn’t recognize enter the room.  
One of them was a tall and dark tiefling, who had to duck to enter the infirmary. Their black horns stuck straight up, and they were quite intimidating looking. But the soft look on their face didn’t keep up with their body. They wore a long black cloak with red embellishes, and a talisman hanging around their neck, carved with a symbol Dream didn’t recognize. 

The other person was just a little bit taller than Skeppy, with very fluffy brown hair pushed back from their forehead with dark goggles. He wore a cloak that was a dark blue near the bottom but faded to white the further up it was. The stranger had a white shirt and light brown pants, and leather gloves that were, somehow, a pure white color. He had two different colored eyes, his right eye a dark brown and his left a deep red. It looked almost like magical backlash, something he had heard about in his lessons but never seen in real life. 

“Who are you?” Dream asked, straightening his back to look more regal. (He hoped his cloak was still on right,)

“This is Bad” Skeppy motioned to the tiefling, “And this is George,” He motioned to the other, “They’re healers, uh, The Queen asked me to find a healer because she was worried about you,” 

Before Dream could speak, the shorter healer did, “Is that Sapnap?” 

“Yes-” 

George moved past Dream, startling the prince. He kneeled by Sapnaps bedside and scoffed, “You reckless idiot, you got yourself hurt again,” 

Sapnap snorted, “Yeah yeah,” 

“You know him?” Dream asked, moving to the other side of Sapnap’s bed. His friend nodded, “George and I grew up together, we’re friends,”

“We’re step brothers, too,” George was unpacking his leather bag onto one of the wooden counters. Dream stared at him, dumbfounded. He had heard from Sapnap that he had a stepbrother and a stepmother, his mom had remarried after his dad left when he was just five. But Dream hadn’t expected for his stepbrother to be a healer that somehow Skeppy would find. 

“Seriously?” Skeppy said what Dream was thinking, “That's insane!” 

“Mmhm,” George said nonchalantly, pulling some sort of herb out of his bag. They watched as George pulled Sapnap’s pant leg up, and they all flinched at the gravity of his wound. George didn’t flinch, waving his hand over the top. Much to Dreams amazement, some form of ethereal white bandage started to glow over the wound. Sapnap’s face, previously twisted in pain, relaxed and he let out a sigh of relief. George worked quickly, moving his hands in a way that looked like he was weaving in the air. The magical bandage around Sapnap’s leg turned more opaque until George moved back, and they disappeared. Where a long gash had been prior, there was just a little white line. A scar. 

Sapnap had seemingly fallen asleep, and George grabbed a blanket off of a table in the back and pulled it over him. Skeppy applauded quietly, as to not wake Sapnap, and Dream simply stared.  
“What else did you want to show us?” George asked Skeppy, almost unfazed at the awe coming from the knight and himself. 

Dream sat down onto one of the infirmary beds and frowned at George from under his mask. Skeppy led the two healers out of the room and presumably somewhere else in their home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sapnap introduces some new characters, George gets a hang of whats going on, and Karl and Quackity meet some people they weren't meant to meet.

Sapnap woke with a start, realizing almost immediately that he had woken up from a magically induced healing coma. He felt it through his entire body, a warm sensation that tingles at the end of his fingers and toes. It was George’s magic, and that was probably why he realized that he hadn’t dreamt the entire thing. George had a recognizable magic, it felt like the warmth of a fireplace and home cooked food. 

He’d grown used to having magic cast onto him, he’d gone to George and Bad after nearly every single of his outings with Dream and the other knights. After a while of Sapnap not answering George’s questions, he stopped asking where he got his injuries. Sometimes Sapnap felt a little guilty about making him worry, but it would be fine in the end. He’d never gotten that seriously injured that he nearly died. 

Sapnap sat up slowly, looking around. Dream was facing away from him, sitting on another one of the infirmary beds with his tail hanging off the side. As Sapnap stretched, he didn’t feel any open wounds, George did a good job. 

“Hey,” Sapnap said, his voice groggy with sleep. Dream twisted around, looking at him.

“Good morning,” He said, placing down the book Sapnap assumed he was reading. 

“It’s morning still?” Sapnap looked around. 

“No, it’s actually about three in the afternoon,” 

“Oh,” Sapnap swung his legs off of the bed and stood up, stretching. “Have George and Bad moved in yet? 

“They’re working on it. Sam came back and is working on some sort of transporting spell,” Dream stood up as well. “Karl, Punz, and Quackity are going to be back soon,” 

“Great. Should we go help George move in?”

Dream shrugged. “I think they’ve got everything taken care of. I was about to leave,”

“Okay, see you later then?” Sapnap asked as Dream exited the room. He barely noticed Dream waving goodbye.

Sapnap walked back into the hallway, looking down at where Dream had walked away. The masked prince and his knights lived in a special part of the palace, hidden behind the painting-like door. Currently, excluding George and Bad, only seven people lived back here. Alongside Skeppy, himself, Sam, and Dream, there were three other knights. They were out on a mission right now, though. They’ll be back by dinner, he thinks. 

The rooms back here were comfortable and cozy. Nothing like you’d expect to be in a castle, they aren’t lavish and large. They were furnished with whatever the knight living in them wanted. For instance, Sapnaps was fitted out with wooden furniture and a quilt his mom had made him years ago. The bed was incredibly comfortable, and he nearly always fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

Back here there was also an armory, a library, a sparsely used kitchen, and a training dojo. The library was a wonderful place, Sapnap didn’t read much but he did like to accompany his friends there and just zone out in the comfortable atmosphere. George would like it there, he thought. 

It’s going to be nice, not having to make the tiring walk to George’s after a long day of getting injured, but now being able to go home and just be healed. Also it would be nice to see his (brother) friend every day. 

Over his career with the Prince, Sapnap had gotten into several scuffles. Their King sent them off to do the dirty work, the work that no one else was strong enough to do or even wanted to do. He’s found himself fighting off water spectors in the kingdom’s sewers before. Sometimes it seems cruel, the king sending off his only son on deadly missions and never checks to see if he’s alright. It's almost like he wants him to be killed. At least Dream’s parents didn’t do what Sapnap’s dad did, or Bad’s parents did, which was to leave and abandon them. Sapnaps mom raised him all on her own and having to deal with his fiery self as a child is something his mom should be immortalized for. Bad was raised with George, and later with Sapnap, because his parents didn’t want to deal with a shadowy demonic child and dumped him on a local healer. 

Sapnap quickly found the others, George and Bad were standing in the hallway watching in awe as Sam pulled items out of a bag that didn’t seem large enough to hold the items. 

Sapnap got bored as he watched Sam pull a dresser out of the bag, and continued into the library. He looked through the books, and pulled out a large leather tome labeled “The Encyclopedia of Monstrous Beings,” and settled down into one of the comfortable chairs to read. 

Sapnap wasn’t as focused on the book as he normally was, and as he gazed out the window. It had just started raining, and the soft patter of rain was calming. The sound of Bad and Skeppy arguing echoed throughout the halls, and he felt at peace. 

After about an hour, sitting there deep in thought, Sapnap heard the sound of the door in the front open. And then their home was alive with voices, laughing and arguing of a couple of familiar people. He smiled to himself, bookmarking the page that he had been reading and getting up to greet the others. 

Karl, Quackity, and Punz were in the armory, putting away their armor. Punz stood in the doorway, giving Sapnap a high five in greeting. 

“Hey man, welcome back,” Sapnap grinned.

“God I’m tired, I hate overnight missions,” Punz laughed, “Glad to be back. Did anything happen?” 

“We scored a couple of healers, Skeppy went and found them,” 

“We did?!” Punz said incredulously, “Thank fuck-” 

“Healers?!” Quackity called from inside the armory, “Finally! Where are they?” 

“Unpacking,” Sapnap leaned onto the doorframe, crossing his arms, “You guys better not be assholes to them, one of the healers is my brother,” 

“You have a brother?” Karl peeked out from behind one of the cabinets where they kept the armor. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, “Wait- really?” 

“He’s a stepbrother. We grew up together though, so we’re basically brothers,” 

“Cool!” Karl grinned. Sapnap tried to ignore how his heart raced when Karl smiled at him. 

Sapnap had known Karl for a couple of months now. He and Quackity were the newest members of their little group of knights, and they came as a pair. Quackity didn’t know any magic, but he was a genius with nearly any type of weapon you can give him. Karl was the magical one of the two, he was proficient in color magic. He used the colors on his patchwork cloak (which Sapnap often saw him adding to. Karl said sewing was therapeutic,) to summon their respective elements. He was powerful enough to raze an entire forest with a square of red fabric. 

Karl walked out from behind the cabinet, wearing a loose white shirt tucked into his pair of brown pants. He had a line of scrapes going up from his collarbone (which was showing, and Sapnap averted his eyes as soon as he saw it,) up to his left ear. To think of it, all three of the knights looked worn. Punz had a gash above his right eye and was favoring his left leg. Quackity’s hands were scraped raw, and he looked exhausted. 

“You guys should go to the infirmary,” Sapnap said, “Come on, it’s just down this way,” 

“Sure,” Quackity stood. He and Punz were out the door, walking down the hall quickly. Karl walked through last, brushing into Sapnap’s shoulder and grinning. 

Sapnap had to turn away, trying not to show how flustered he was on his face. 

He had to endlessly remind himself that Karl was his friend, and nothing was going to come from him being hopelessly in love with him. 

↢↣  
The next few weeks were what George would call busy. The Prince and his knights were always on their feet, on their way to tackle the next problem their kingdom encountered. It barely left them room to breathe, and it genuinely left George impressed. 

In this kingdom, the eldest prince acted as a sort of general until his inevitable ascension to the throne. The prince was a genius with battle plans and knew exactly what to say when raising the morale of his knights. George could hardly believe that he was a prince when at home though, he laughed and talked like a common person. He was completely normal except for the mask that he wore. But other than at night and when he was on missions with the knights, Prince Dream was nearly never around. 

Currently, George was dragged onto one of those missions. He was sitting on the sidelines, watching as the knights were dealing with some troublesome Light Fae. Light Fae were annoying, much worse than their counterparts, Dark Fae. The Dark Fae were civilized and they were agreeable. 

The fight was over quickly, since both Sapnap and Karl used fire magic, the Light Fae practically crumpled. No one was injured, so they started their walk back to the castle. They were just outside of the northern gate, which was rather close to the magical sector of the kingdom. As they passed through a large open-air market, George was reminded of something he had needed to do for a while now. 

“Sapnap,” George called out, “Hey- we’re pretty close to home, right?” 

“Yeah, what about it?” Sapnap was standing near Karl, who was marveling at a stall that was selling brightly colored fabrics. 

“When was the last time we visited our moms?” 

Sapnap thought for a second, before a wave of panic came over him, “Uh-” 

“Way too long,” George said. Sapnap paled. 

“Can we go visit them?” He asked. 

“You don’t need to ask- there was no way I’d let you not go,” George said. 

Sapnap nodded gravely. 

“Where are you guys going?” Quackity asked. He was awkwardly standing next to George, shuffling his feet. He didn’t seem to like the crowd. 

“We’re going to visit our moms,” Sapnap said. Quackity’s face lit up. 

“Can we come?” 

“I don’t see why not,” George glanced at his brother. Sapnap shrugged, looking over at Karl. “Do you want to come too?” 

Karl nodded enthusiastically, and pocketed the pieces of fabric he had just bought, “Are your moms nice?” 

“They’re the nicest,” Sapnap said affectionately. 

And so, they found themselves on the doorstep of the house that George grew up in. The house was larger than the rest of them on the block, which was a way with a little park in the middle. George smiled affectionately at the memories he had rolling around in the grass and playing with Sapnap and Bad when they were kids. 

Sapnaps mom kept flowers and plants on their front porch, and vines climbed up the walls. They added some much-needed brightness to the wooden house, and there were even more inside. George knocked on the door, and after a moment he was greeted by a short and warm woman. Sapnaps mom was wonderful and somewhat loud. She came up to George’s shoulder and grinned widely. 

“George! Sapnap! What a surprise,” She said, pulling them into a tight hug. Sapnap was grinning, he loved his mom a lot. George liked her as well, she was a very loving mother and made a mean cherry pie. 

“Hey Mom, “ Sapnap said, “I’m sorry I haven’t visited,” 

“It’s fine sweetheart,” She said, kissing him on his forehead, “Don’t worry, we knew you were coming today. Louise foresaw it. We have dinner ready. Come in everyone!”

Karl and Quackity were ferried inside, looking gobsmacked by how much hospitality they were shown. George’s mom was in the kitchen and gave each of the boys a hug, including the ones who weren’t her sons. Quackity looked like he was about to cry.

George quite likes his moms.  
↢↣  
Sapnaps mom figured it out immediately. It only took her glancing over at him and Karl talking during dinner to look at him smugly. He was mortified, it took her half an hour to recognize that her son was dealing with romantic troubles. Sapnap thought he was doing pretty well at hiding it since he had a history of having to hide feelings from people, but his mom saw right through him. She pulled him aside during dinner and asked, “Is he who you’ve been interested in?” and she laughed as he nodded, very flustered. 

His mom was sweet to his friends, especially Karl. Karl was ecstatic, shining a bright smile every time someone spoke to him. It was killing Sapnap, but he was enjoying Karl’s happiness just as much. After they had dinner, which was a wonderful beef stew that his mom made, they piled into the living room. He wasn’t sure why, but George's mom had dug some books out from under the cabinet and was spreading them out on a table that hadn’t been there before in the living room. 

She took a deep breath and smiled at everyone around her before all the lights in the room were extinguished. Suddenly in the darkness, little points of light grew into familiar sights. He was seeing memories and recognized the spell that Louise had cast. He saw him and George, respectively nine and eleven, playing in the grass in front of their house. He saw himself sobbing, with little points of his horns growing in. They were fucking painful when they came in, he remembered. He was probably five in that memory. 

He also saw Bad, laying on the floor of the bedroom all three of them shared before they were allowed to have their rooms. Sapnap saw all sorts of warm and wonderful memories that he had forgotten and smiled unconsciously. He leaned against his mom's shoulder, who was on the couch next to him. She patted his cheek, whispering a quick _I love you, Sap _.__


	3. Karlnap Enterlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some self indulgent Karlnap because its my favorite thing to write.   
> Its sort of long, sorry about that loves.   
> More plot should happen after this one, we'll be meeting SBI and friends next chapter! 
> 
> Watching Jack Manifold while writing this :D

Karl was thinking about what they had done that day. 

First, they got up at the crack of dawn to go fight things in the northern forest. It was pretty exhilarating, running through the dewy forest just as the sun peeked out from the horizon. Especially with his friends. 

Then they encountered some Light Fae, those buggers. They’re the most annoying thing on the planet, apart from mosquitos. The Dark Fae are much better. That fight didn’t last long, but being around Light Fae messed with time, so by the time they had finished, it was mid-afternoon. Again, Karl thought about how much better Dark Fae are. Holding conversations with them doesn’t make their internal clocks go haywire and time to speed up. 

After that, they had gone with Sapnap and George to visit their moms. It was probably the best thing he had done in a while, hands down. His parents weren’t that great, so he didn’t have high expectations for George and Sapnap’s moms. But as soon as he got there, he knew he wouldn’t regret it. Louise and Samara, (Sapnaps mom,) were the sweetest most motherly people he’d ever met. They immediately welcomed him and Quackity into their home, treated them to dinner, and showed them just plain old _love _. That explained why Sapnap was so affectionate as a friend, his mom raised him to be like that.__

__Karl didn’t know what it was like to be loved by a parent. A lot of his scars were from his parents, but when he met Louise and Samara he realized what he was missing.  
Karl was standing in the middle of his room when he realized what he had been feeling. _ _

__Why standing near Sapnap made his heart race, and why speaking directly to him made him overthink everything, and when he felt his skin grow hot if Sapnap looked right at him. Why simply being close to Sapnap was reassuring and made him feel better._ _

__Sapnap was wonderful, he laughed loud and protected people fiercely, he was warm and kind, and comforting and strong. Everything made sense when Karl met his mom and saw how he must have grown to be like that._ _

__When Karl saw the little unconscious smile that Sapnap had made when he was watching the memories Louise summoned, leaned against the doorframe, Karl’s face had flushed and he felt something stir in his stomach. He loved Sapnap’s little smiles._ _

__God, Karl was stupid. How had he not realized he loved him._ _

__Karl didn’t exactly know that much about the feeling of love. His parents had hardly been loving people, and the person who taught him his magic didn’t teach him anything other than that. Karl had no idea what to do with his feelings. He had to sit down._ _

__And god, he just realized that Sapnap was a guy. Was he gay? He didn’t honking know._ _

__He didn’t even notice that someone was knocking on his door, he was so deep in his head. A moment later, Quackity burst into the room, startling Karl._ _

__“What- Hey!”_ _

__“What the hell man! Answer the door- are you okay?” Quackity’s tone changed drastically when he looked Karl in the eye._ _

__“I’m fine,” Karl’s shoulders sagged. He was tired, and had just come to a startling revelation, so he was definitely lying._ _

__“You’re not fine,” Quackity rationalized, “You have your thinking face on,”_ _

__“Do I?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Quackity fell onto the bed next to him, “What’s on your mind?”_ _

__Karl knew he couldn’t hide anything from Quackity, so he decided to straight-up tell him._ _

__“I think I’m in love with Sapnap,” He said, taking a deep breath._ _

__That was not what Quackity had expected him to say, because he looked astounded. “What?”_ _

__Karl nodded, “Yeah,”_ _

__They sat in silence for a while. Quackity looked like he wanted to say something at some point but then decided against it. Quackity was a good friend, he’d figure out something to say in a bit. And he did because a couple of minutes into their silence he burst._ _

__“How the _fuck _did I not notice this?” Quackity laughed loudly, “Oh it was so obvious, how did _you _not realize it? You look at Sapnap like he’s the world and neither of us noticed it,”_____ _

______“I what?!” Karl asked incredulously, “What do you mean ‘I look at Sapnap like he’s the world?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You do- I can’t even think of when it started,” Quackity turned thoughtful, “Can you?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I don’t know,” Karl fell back onto the bed next to his friend “I might have felt like that from the beginning,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hmm,” Quackity hummed, “Can you tell me what you see in him? Have you thought about it ever?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Karl closed his eyes and just started talking. He had a lot he liked about Sapnap. His eyes, how they showed that he was happy when he wasn’t smiling, how loud he got when he was happy, how when he got startled he jumped and usually fell over. Sapnap is expressive in his own way, and Karl hadn’t realized how much he noticed about him. He liked when Sapnap was helping people, he was so gentle. One time they had to go and rid an orphanage of some sort of spector and Sapnap was so nice to the children, at one point he had like three or four different kids hanging off of him and he looked at Karl and smiled. He didn’t realize how much he loved that smile of his._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Damn, you’re whipped, “ Quackity grinned, “This is ridiculous,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Karl hummed in response. His face was properly flushed, he was so oblivious._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Are you going to do anything about it?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I- I haven’t thought about,” It’s true, Karl hadn’t, “I don’t know,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Are you going to tell him?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Not soon,” He shook his head, “I don’t know how I’d do it, I don’t know how to tell him. I don’t know how any of this works,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Me neither,” Quackity sat up. “You’ll figure it out, Karlos,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I guess,” Karl said, unsure._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I’m going to bed. We have a long day tomorrow, you better get some sleep. Don’t stay up all night thinking about prince charming, _mi amigo _,”___ _ _ _ _ _

________“He’s not even the prince!” Karl managed to say to Quackity before his friend was out the door._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The next morning was alive with commotion. They were getting ready to travel to one of their neighboring kingdoms, which would be a week's horse ride through the northern forests. There was only one village in between the two kingdoms, so they’d have at least one night in an inn and the rest camping out in the darkness. Karl quite liked camping, and now that they had George he could cast protective spells on their campsite and they could sleep safely._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl was glad they finally had someone who could use magic. It would come in handy._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They got on the road about ten minutes later, loading their belongings onto saddlebags and munching on the last pieces of their breakfasts. Dream rode in the head of their group, and flanking him were Sapnap and Punz. In the middle of their group Bad and George, then in the back were himself, Quackity, and Sam. They rode for hours, waiting until just before nightfall to set up their camp. They turned off the main road for a few minutes and decided on an open clearing to set up camp. Sapnap lit a fire in the middle, and Sam and Punz got them dinner. Karl dragged a couple of big logs into the middle for them to sit on._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl enchanted the ends of a couple of sticks to be the different colors, and they drew sticks to decide who would be their tent partners. Karl drew an orange stick, and much to his disappointment Quackity drew a green one. (He shared his tent with Punz) But as he glanced over at what Sapnap drew, he was shocked to see that he had also drawn an orange stick. Sapnap looked up and noticed that Karl had the same color, and his face lit up. Karl’s heart felt like it was going to explode as he grinned back.  
↢↣  
Karl went to sleep early, Sapnap noticed. He turned in nearly as soon as dinner ended, but Sapnap stayed awake nearly another hour. George was sitting by the fire casting protective spells on the campsite, so Sapnap stood watch as he did that. Quackity was plucking some tunes on his guitar, but Sapnap didn’t recognize any of them so he just listened. It was nice. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After a while the other two turned in, and Punz came out to stand watch for the next few hours. Sapnap decided to retire to bed as well, and entered the tent as quietly as possible._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl was asleep, facing away from the middle of the tent. He was wrapped in one of his blankets and his patchwork cloak, and looked so small. Sapnap was blown away with how vulnerable he looked when he was asleep._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap took off his armor as quietly as possible, leaving it at the mouth of the tent. He took out his sleeping roll and tried to fall asleep._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________About an hour later, Sapnap had been having trouble sleeping, he heard Karl stir. Sapnap knew Karl couldn’t see as well as him in the dark, so Sapnap opened his eyes. Karl was sitting up with his knees to his chest, breathing heavily. He was sobbing quietly, and shook slightly._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap reached out and touched Karls shoulder._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Karl?” He whispered quietly. The other boy jumped, looking terrified for a moment. He seemed to notice that it was just Sapnap, and wilted back into himself._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Sorry- sorry, did I wake you?” Karls voice shook._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Nah, I was already awake,” Sapnap sat up, “What happened?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I had a nightmare, it’s fine,” Karl seemed torn up, and Sapnap was concerned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Do you want to talk about it?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl shook his head and sat there, with a glum face. He was fidgeting with his fingers in his lap, and looked incredibly anxious. “Can I-” He closed his mouth, and then tried again, “Can I hug you?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap was a little shocked by the question, but opened his arms for a hug. Karl looked relieved, and scooted over and put his arms around Sapnap. Sapnap rubbed his hands in a circular motion on Karl’s back, it helped Bad when he was having a rough time so maybe it’ll help Karl?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The motion did what Sapnap hoped, and Karl melted against him, burying his face in the crook of Sapnap’s neck. He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but after a while Karl’s breathing slowed and Sapnap could tell he fell back to sleep. So he took his sleeping (friend?) and put him back onto his sleeping roll and pulled the blankets back over him.  
And Sapnap missed the warmth of Karl in his arms as he laid down to go back to sleep. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The next day they broke camp and travelled without complications. Punz shot down a pheasant and got some applause. They chose their next campsite under a ridge about a ten minute ride away from the road. Tonight, Karl stayed up longer. The others were sitting around the fire, cheering and singing loudly to the music that Quackity was playing, and eating some mushroom stew that Bad had foraged for._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Dream and Sapnap weren’t participating in the festivities like the others, though. The two of them sat up against a large tree in silence, watching the others._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The Prince hadn’t taken off his mask around the others since George and Bad had shown up. It might be that he didn’t trust them yet, but Sapnap honestly didn’t know how he couldn’t trust  
them. He might be biased, though. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap looked back at the fire, and softened. Karl was grinning widely, and happily singing loudly. He looked like he was having the time of his life, and Sapnap was just glad enough to watch  
from the distance.   
“What’s on your mind?” Dream asked, startling Sapnap slightly. The prince leaned back onto the tree, crossing his legs in front of him. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hmm, nothing,” Sapnap lied, wringing his hands in his lap._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Why’re you looking at Karl like that?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap flinched._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Why am I what?” Sapnap glanced at the prince, alarmed. “I’m- I’m not looking at anyone,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hmm,” Dream moved his mask up slightly so that he could eat, and Sapnap could see a mischievous grin on his face, “I see what's going on here,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Nothing is going on here,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah sure, you’ve obviously got a thing for Jacobs,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What are you talking about,” Sapnap laughed nervously._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Dream guffawed, he’s always been more casual with Sapnap, “You’ve been looking at him all weird all day, did something happen between the two of you? You are sharing a tent,”  
“Nothing happened,” _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah, sure,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After a moment of Sapnap feeling Dreams stare, he broke and told his friend everything. As soon as he finished, felt a flash of embarrassment. Sapnap was affection starved and touch starved after pining after the same boy for months now, and finally when he gets a small taste of what could be, he’s plunged into his feelings even deeper._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You’re so whipped,” Dream grinned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap threw his arms in the air, “You think I don’t know this?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Dream started laughing, and after a moment Sapnap joined him, and they laughed until their sides hurt._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________↢↣_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl laid wide awake, but felt exhausted. All day he had been wrestling with feelings of embarrassment and affection for the person he was only sleeping mere inches away from. He had to deal with the concerned looks Sapnap was giving him. It was hard enough to act normal when Sapnap looked at him, and now this?!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl rolled over, glancing at the person who had been driving him crazy all day. Sapnap was sleeping like a log, and Karl calmed down by listening to his breathing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap radiated heat, even when Karl wasn’t touching him. On the other hand, Karl ran cold and his hands shook when it was below seventy degrees. When they hugged, though, everything felt right, even though Karl was devastated._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl turned back and stared at the ceiling of the tent, and decided to go get some fresh air. Maybe walk around. He tried to quietly leave the tent, but he was stopped by a warm hand on his wrist, stopping him in his tracks._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Where are you going?” Sapnap had sat up a little, and his eyes were half closed. Karl didn’t know how he accidentally woke him up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I- I was going on a walk,” Karl lied. Sapnap’s was warm._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Don’t do that- s’dangerous out there” Sapnap was slurring in his tired state. He let go of Karls wrist, and Karl knew that he could possibly just leave, but he stayed still._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I can’t sleep,” Karl moved to be a little more comfortable, tucking his legs underneath himself. Sapnap sat up all the way, and rubbed his eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You shouldn’t do that,” Sapnap mumbled, “The protection spells only work in the campsite. It’s also cold out there,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You’ve got a point,” It was definitely warmer inside of the tent than the outside (Since Sapnap was there, he was like a heater)_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What can I do to help you?” Sapnaps eyes burnt Karls’s skin, and he felt his face turn red under his gaze. He was thankful that it was night. But then again, didn’t Sapnap say he could see really well in the dark? Karl didn’t know what to do now that Sapnap had offered to help with his problems. He honestly was afraid to go to sleep, the things he sees in his dark rest behind his eyelids, he hates it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I-” Karl shrugged._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap sighed, pulling a hand through his hair. “Do you want another hug?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl was dumbstruck for a moment, but then nodded quickly. Again, for the second night in a row, Sapnap opened his arms and Karl ignored his feelings and went to hug him. Karl melted into his hug, and sighed comfortably._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________This time he could enjoy it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap rubbed circles into Karls back, and he did his best to just focus on that and the warmth he felt from Sapnaps body against his. He could feel Sapnaps chest rise, and with his head in the crook of his neck, he could also hear his heart beat. After bit he felt sleep overcome him, and no nightmares came to haunt him that night._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The next day went quicker than the days before. Karl had gotten the best night's sleep than he’d had in weeks, and you know what that was wasted on? A group of griffins that assaulted them just before they were going to stop for dinner and knocked him off of his horse._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After that he didn’t remember anything, George told him he had rammed his head into a tree when he fell and knocked out. It checked out, because he had a killer headache the next morning. He was looking forward to where they were going, finally they would be coming across a village where they could sleep the night in beds and have a roof over their heads. They arrived in the small town just before dark and they booked some rooms in an inn. It was nice._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________That evening everyone piled into the bar, and Dream gave them all permission to have one drink, no one wanted the knights to be hungover the next day as they travelled. Karl didn’t like to drink, but he liked to watch his friends have a good time. He was sitting at a table with Dream, who like Karl didn’t want to touch alcohol. Karl assumed that it was because he didn’t feel comfortable taking off his mask in public, because when it was just the knights having dinner or partying on one of their rare off days Karl has seen Dream down goblets of wine before. After a while of silence, Karl pulled out a book to read. He felt at ease, for the first time in days._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Well, technically, he had always felt at ease when he was with Sapnap. Specifically, when Sapnap was hugging him and Karl didn’t feel so alone. Karl was going to miss having someone else sleeping near him tonight, he realized quickly. It shouldn’t be so important to him should it? He just liked the company._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After another thirty minutes, Karl got up and went to go to bed. He stood up and said a quick goodbye to the prince, and glanced at the bar. With a jolt, he realized that Sapnap was looking at him. Karl managed to smile and wave at him and tried to make it look like he wasn’t fleeing as he walked to the stairs._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After an hour or so, the inn finally grew quiet. He heard his friends enter their respective rooms and the sound of crickets started up outside. Karl could see the moons perfectly from his window, and they gleamed in the sky like wide eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl fell asleep peacefully enough, but the peace was broken by the terror of his dreams._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl still has nightmares quite often. It had been years since he had been separated from his parents, but nothing had changed. They were still there, haunting him from behind his eyes.  
His nightmares were noise. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The sound of his fathers gruff voice, heavy with alcohol, taunting him and his siblings to come out from where they were hiding. His mothers shrieking laughter from when she found the smallest thing to punish them about, the majority of the punishments being beatings. The sounds of his ten year old sisters screams when his dad took her and locked the door to his room. Endless poundings when he tried to protect his siblings, and the dry stale scent of his own blood drying on his skin as he laid on the wooden floor of his bedroom._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________And finally, seeing the terror in little sister and brothers eyes when he was dragged away from home to be sold, never to see them again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl woke up with a start, sitting up so quickly he saw dark spots in his eyes. Bile rose in his throat, and he just managed not to throw up. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he felt a cold, familiar feeling grow in his chest._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He hates his nightmares, and he hates that he was helpless against them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He hates that he abandoned his siblings._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He hates that he’s useless._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He hates it, he hates it, he hates it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________In his shell shocked state, Karl managed to stand up and stumble to the door. He fumbled with the lock, and spilled out into the hallway. He needed someone, he can’t be alone.  
Sapnap’s door was just across the hall, he remembered, and he knocked on the door. He stood for a few moments in deafening silence, choking on his own tears. And then there Sapnap was, concern obvious on his face. Karls sense of self preservation was gone in that instant, and he hugged him right in the doorframe. After a shocked moment, Sapnap reciprocated the hug.  
“Karl? Did something happen?” Sapnap asked softly. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I-” Karls voice was pinched. He shook his head, and buried it in Sapnaps shoulder._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After a while, and for the first time that Karl had ever been awake, they broke the hug. This time they were standing after all, and half in the hallway._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Did you have another nightmare?” Sapnap asked gingerly. Karl nodded glumly, starting to feel a little embarrassed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Do you want to come in?” Karl answered that question with another nod. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as Sapnap closed the door behind him. The tiefling sat down on his bed, and patted the bed next to him. Karl sat down, taking special care to sit in a small area._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After a beat of silence, Sapnap spoke up. “What- What are your nightmares about?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________This was the first time Karl had heard him Sapnap sound uncertain._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl must have made a face or something, because Sapnap started to look panicked and take back what he said, but Karl took a deep breath and started talking._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“It’s kind of a sore subject,” Karl admitted. He pulled his knees to his chest._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I’d expect it to be,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Mmhm,” Karl looked at the candle on the bedside table, “Have I ever told you anything about my parents?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap shook his head._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Good, they weren’t very great.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“How so?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“They sold me to buy more alcohol,” Karl snorted bitterly. “I was worth ten silver and four bronze,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap looked shocked, “Thats fucked up,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah. They account for like,” Karl flinched, “The majority of my larger scars,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Like the one on your shoulder?” Sapnap asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah, uh, my mother broke a wine bottle over my shoulder,” Karl had been trying to protect his little sister, his father didn’t have good intentions, and his mother just did what his father told her to do. “Do you want to see?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Only if you’re comfortable showing me,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl was always comfortable when he was with Sapnap, so he unbuttoned his nightshirt and shrugged it off his shoulders. He had a couple scars down his front that happened while he was with the knights, but the older and, frankly larger, scars were on his back and shoulders. He turned so Sapnap could see, and he heard an audible gasp when he showed him his marred back. He felt Sapnap touch one of the larger scars, caused by the one time his father came home particularly drunk and angry and knifed him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________When Karl turned back and started to put his shirt back on, he noticed a flash of fury on Sapnaps face which went away when he noticed that Karl was looking at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Where are your parents now?” Sapnap asked,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Karl shrugged, “I’d assume that they’re either dead or still living where I grew up. They never spent their money on anything other than alcohol. I don’t care about finding them, what I do want to find is my siblings,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You have siblings?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah. A little sister and brother,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sapnap nodded, “I’ll help you find them one day,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Thank you,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________After the two of them coexisted in silence, and after a moment Sapnap yawned. Karl remembered right then and there that it was midnight and stood up abruptly._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I- sorry- I’ll go back to my room now-” Karl didn’t really want to go back, but he felt obliged to. This wasn’t his room._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What?” Sapnap stood up with him, “You don’t have to go, you could stay in here,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Really?” Karl gaped at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I- the beds in this inn are about the same size as our tents, there's plenty of room!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________It didn’t take much for Sapnap to convince him to stay, and Karl moved to the opposite side of the bed and crawled in._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Sweet dreams,” Sapnap said quietly, and he extinguished the candle._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat Quackity angst, oops, and some SBI+ introductions!

Quackity didn’t completely understand why Karl and Sapnap were seemingly dancing around each other for the past few days, but he had an idea. He watched from a distance as they grew closer in a matter of days, and he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. But has nothing to be jealous about, he tells himself, it's good for Karl to get closer to the one he wishes to be with. 

This morning Karl walked out of Sapnaps room, much to his dismay. He was the only one who saw, he had been peeking out of his room just before he got changed. Karl had rushed across the hall, and had given Sapnap a smile that Quackity sometimes wished he gave him. 

Quackity hadn’t had a proper conversation with Karl in days. He always seemed to be in his head, or staring at Sapnap with that dreamy look Quackity had grown to almost hate over the past week. When Karl had talked to him about loving Sapnap, Quackity nearly puked. He pretended to be okay with it, in fact ecstatic about Karl finally realizing, but it was fake. 

He wished he was Sapnap. 

Quackity told himself he was fine. 

If he tells himself he’s fine with everything, eventually he will be. 

Right?

They arrived at the capital Yehan empire in midmorning. Fog was still hanging low to the ground, but people were up and about. The Capitol was a diverse place, he could see colorful tieflings speaking to dwarves that seemed to be made from rock, and fancy looking elves being fitted for ball gowns in the windows of tailors shops. The city ranged from extravagant and beautiful to rough and homey-looking in different quadrants. Quackity noticed that the magical folk were more ingrained spread out than where he was from, not just in a specific quadrant. 

As they made their way through the maze of the capital, Quackity marvelled at the beauty of the place. Whereas their kingdom was more open and warm, here in the Yehan empire a chill sat in the air. The mountains rose just outside of the castle, but unlike their kingdom this was an entire mountain range. Quackity could see the snow at the caps of the mountains, and he realized that fall was quickly approaching and the snow would blanket the kingdom in a matter of weeks. 

The Yehan Empire is beautiful when it's cold. 

The group of knights rode towards the castle, a towering beauty of stone and quartz. At least some of it must have been done magically, because the castle looked like it was unnatural.  
They put away their horses into the stables and made their way to the castle. The inside was even more beautiful than the outside, decorated with tapestries, paintings, and sculptures. As they entered the castle, being let in by knights who recognized the prince and the emblems the knights wore on their armor and cloaks. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a man that Quackity didn’t recognize, but everyone else sure did. The man had short blonde hair, and had some stubble and had deep green eyes. A pair of large, grey wings grew out of his back, and a moment later Quackity realized who he was looking at. 

“Your highness, it's great to see you again,” Dream bowed his head respectfully, as did the rest of the knights. Quackity had heard about this king, King Phil was his name, he was a well respected leader and a tactful general. He dragged his empire out of debt and into a flourishing period of life, and Quackity admired that. 

“Welcome to the Yehan Empire, Prince!” The king opened his arms, “I’m glad you could make it again. The games are always much more entertaining when you and your knights are in them,”  
“They’re a fun competition to enter in,” Dream said, “Speaking of knights, we have a few new additions to our group that I would like you to meet,” 

“Oh? Lets meet them then,” King Phil panned his eyes over the group. 

Quackity took this as a cue to step forwards. He stood next to Karl, and George and Bad stood timidly just behind him. 

“Well, what are your names?” 

“I’m Quackity, your highness,” Quackity bowed his head again, “It’s an honor to meet you” 

“Nice to meet you too, mate,” Phil said, smiling. Karl, George, and Bad introduced themselves as well, and the King was delighted to hear that they had finally found a few healers. 

“It always feels like you all are inches away from being seriously hurt, it’s good that you finally have some people to take care of you. My niece and nephew help my sons and their knights with the healing, since we Dark Fae have a knack for that,” 

Quackity was struck with realization, the king was a Dark Fae? Most Dark Fae came with badass dark, pointy horns, but he didn’t see any on the King. But after a moment of investigation, he saw small stumps hidden in his hair and behind the golden crown upon his head. As Quackity looked at them, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and winced. He knew what it was like to lose something that was a part of his race, something unique to each person, and he felt bad for the King. 

“Alright you lot, go get ready for the party tonight. The other knights will be there and you can make friends with them. My sons will be glad to see you again,” The king smiled again. 

“Thank you, sir,” The Prince said, “We’ll see you then,”

↢↣

“The knights from the Starid Dynasty got here a couple hours ago,” 

“The Starid Dynasty?” Ranboo echoed.

“Yeah! You’ll be meeting them for the first time tonight!” Tubbo said excitedly, “They’re literally so cool. I got to meet one of their newest members when Niki took me to the Starid Empire to get some healing training and when we were visiting them in the castle we saw them,” 

“Oh- cool?” 

“Yeah!” 

The two of them were in a courtyard used primarily for the knights to train or work out in. Ranboo was working on some sword techniques with a dummy and a wooden sword, and Tubbo, who was supposed to be working on self defence, was sitting on a low roof above the door. Ranboo had to look up to meet his eyes, and this was probably one of the rare times that Tubbo was higher up than himself. 

“We’re going to have to get ready to go to the party soon,” Tubbo reminded him.

“I forgot about that,” Ranboo realized, “Give me ten minutes,” 

“Okay,” Tubbo slid off the roof, using his wide white wings to catch himself before he hit the ground. Tubbo was a royal, the nephew of the King and a powerful Dark Fae. Unlike the king, though, he had long horns growing out of his hair, dark brown in color. Tubbo was short, but his horns reached Ranboo's eyes. He had to be careful sometimes so he wasn’t poked. 

After ten minutes Ranboo discarded the wooden sword he was working with and he and Tubbo went to get ready. 

Ranboo chose to wear a long black coat, decorated with red and green embroidery and a white shirt, and dark pants. He was tucking in his pants to his dark boots when Tubbo burst into his room, grinning widely. He was wearing a green top and a specifically made brown cape-thing that went over his shoulders and part of his wings. He had a simple jeweled crown sat upon his head, and this weaved golden jewelry-thingy wrapped around each of his horns. He sure changed from his bored druid look to the royal look quickly. 

“Ranboo lets go!” Tubbo dragged out the ‘o’s for emphasis. “I really want to see everyone!” 

“Chill out, I’m nearly ready,” Ranboo looked in the mirror and tried fixing his hair, but Tubbo grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his room. He just barely managed to close the door before the shorter boy was down the hall with him in tow. 

The castle was alive with movement this fall evening. They hustled past crowds of servants holding platters upon platters of food, obviously making their way to the ballroom. They also saw some people Ranboo didn’t recognize, he saw a shorter guy with a scar over the left side of his face and a guitar slung over his back, and a tall scaly skinned man with goggles over his forehead. 

“Sam!!” Tubbo ran up to the latter one, grinning ear to ear. The one named Sam grinned about as large as Tubbo when he saw him, and opened his arms for a hug. Tubbo looked miniscule next to the green man, which Ranboo was about 75% sure was some sort of Dragonborn mixture, but how the hell did he have a human-ish face? Ranboo wasn’t sure. 

“Hey Tubbo, long time no see!” Sam said, ruffling Tubbos hair, “How's everything been? How have you been getting on with your magic?” 

“Great! I magicked this guy's leg back on one time when it got cut off accidentally,” Tubbo said, grinning widely. He had a way with making gruesome things sound normal, it was really funny but not helpful when Tubbo wanted to sound serious. 

“Did you really? Wow!” Sam didn’t seem to look intimidated by that, “Also, who’s this?” The green man looked right at Ranboo, and he jumped slightly. He had been sort of trying to blend in with the wall, he didn’t want to interrupt Tubbo talking to his friend. 

“This is Ranboo, he’s my friend!” Tubbo grabbed Ranboo’s arm, “He’s really cool! He’s a warlock and isn't completely in control of his magic but he’s fantastic!” 

“Tubbo please,” Ranboo flushed, “You don’t have to say that,” 

“It’s true though!” 

Sam grinned ear to ear, “I’m glad that you made a friend outside of Tommy, Tubbo,” 

The three of them continued talking as they made their way to the ballroom for the party. Ranboo wasn’t really looking forward to it, he didn’t really like being around that many people, but he felt obliged to come to this one. Tubbo usually let him slide out of the other parties, but this one he needed to attend. It was specifically for the knights, and Ranboo was one of them. 

But when they got to the ballroom, Ranboo was relieved to only see a handful of people, and he already knew the majority of them. Fundy, Niki, and Eret were standing by one of the windows talking with a man with white goggles and a dark tiefling, the crown Prince was standing in a corner with a goblet of wine, speaking to a man with a golden crown and a white mask, which Ranboo suspected was Prince Dream. Tommy and Wilbur were laughing loudly, speaking animatedly with a tiefling with a white headband. Ranboo decided quickly that the people in here wouldn’t be that hard to talk to, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want to say anything about this you can comment it below and I'll (most likely) reply :)


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